Fact or Fiction in the Professional Cleaning Industry

There are a lot of conceptions and misconception in the professional cleaning industry about a number of things. Below, we take a look at some of these with the goal of setting the record straight.

The Professional Cleaning Industry Has Gone “Green”

While it sure seems like this would be the case, this is fiction. According to some recent statistics, of the $25 billion spent on professional cleaning products each year in the U.S., only about a third would be recognized or are certified as “green.” However, this figure is going up, and may actually be a bit higher than we realize. For instance, the use of cleaning equipment that cleans effectively without the use of cleaning solutions – referred to as machines that use engineered water for cleaning – has increased considerably in the past few years. In addition, we now know that some cleaning tools and equipment such as Kaivac’s No-Touch Cleaning® systems can work effectively without cleaning solutions. (NOTE: Kaivac always recommends using cleaning solutions when cleaning, especially if disinfectants are called for).

In a Public Restroom, it’s More Sanitary to Dry Your Hands with Paper Towels Than a Hand Dryer.

The key word here is “sanitary” and, yes, it is more sanitary to dry your hands with paper towels. Here’s the reason. While many more people do wash their hands after using the restroom, for some it’s just a quick rinse and nothing more. If they then dry their hands using a hand dryer and their hands have such contaminants as E. coli, germs, and bacteria on them, those can become airborne and find their way on to nearby touchable surfaces. This does not happen when using paper towels.

And because we are on the subject, the Mayo Clinic says that “drying hands with a paper towel is more effective [at removing germs and contaminants] when compared with cloth towels and electric air dryers.”

Most Trash Liners Today are Made from Recycled Materials

Once again, you would think this would be the case, but it is not. Even the US Green Building Council, which establishes the requirements for LEED certification, does not require that the trash liners used in commercial cleaning be made from recycled materials. What happened when LEED v4, the most recent version of LEED, was in the planning stages, many end-customers, manufacturers, and distributors came forward saying that recycled trash liners just do not hold up well compared to traditional trash liners. The result would be that cleaning workers would have to use more plastic to compensate for the weak recycled liners.

The options here are to reduce the use of trash liners or better, turn to systems that compact trash liners. One system can reduce the waste volume in a trash liner by as much as one-half, allowing more trash to be collected per bag.

Most Slip-and-Fall Accidents Happen in the Home

This is fiction. While the statistics can vary from year to year, it appears the following is where most slip-and-fall accidents occur on a regular basis:

Big-box retailers and grocery stores

Hotels and resorts

Privately owned homes

Rented homes (often happening in a common area of a building and usually the fault of the landlord, a building service worker, or another tenant)

Public spaces such as parks and recreation areas

In the workplace.

The Best Way to Teach Workers is Through Hands-on Training.

This is almost true. In a 2013 study of 1,000 workers, it was found that 35 percent prefer – and find most useful – hands-on training, learning from either a trainer or another worker.

However, what appears to be even most effective is what is referred to as a “blend,” a combination of hands-on training with an instructor as well as online training or training using videos or some electronic tutor.

“By incorporating both in-person and [electronic] resources, employees can get a fuller understanding of the information during training and have a reference to turn to if issues arise in the future,” according to a 2015 report in Entrepreneur Magazine.